Sword Art Online and The World Ends with You are not owned by me, but this is a work of my own creation. Please do not take any ideas without permission.

-§-

If Kirito was honest, he would readily admit that he did not know Neku that well. While he did know Neku from the beta test, that contact been sporadic at best. Teaming up for a quest here or there. Talking strategies for floor bosses or just meeting up to take on said floor bosses. Though he was sure about one thing, Neku's philosophy on humanity. Other people, except for a select few in Neku's life were worthless. At best, people were nameless shadows, at worst background noise that would sometimes be heard above his music.

In his own words, "I don't get people, never have, never will, I have my values, so you can keep yours."

Neku had no qualms with leaving others behind. According to him, inexperienced players would only slow them down. If others were determined not to die, they could take care of themselves. Not that Kirito was any better. While he had shown some concern for Klein, afterword, the two had blazed through quests, leaving nothing in their wake. On their way to get the anneal blade, they had met a beta tester trying to get the sword as well. The three had agreed to try and get the swords together, but their third member tried to backstab them by triggering an effect that flooded the area with monsters. Their plan backfired however and they themselves were caught up in the horde. The two had ran away while the boy died.

Now a month in, 2000 players have been killed. Some by mobs, some by PKs, others by suicide. Half the remaining players are too scared to leave the Town of Beginnings. Grief, terror, and anguish are felt by the majority of the players. Kirito sighed as he swung down his sword, finishing off another monster. Currently, Kirito was exploring the first floor dungeon alone, trying to find the boss room. Neku was off doing other quests and confirming whether or not there were any useful rewards. They had asked Argo, SAO's most famous info broker, for help but even she had not completed them all. The sounds of a monster spawning in drew him out of his thoughts. For now, he had a boss room to find.

-§-

Neku unleashed another sword skill causing the monster he was fighting to finally burst into blue shards. He had been spending the entire morning hunting down monsters for a certain kill quest. Unfortunately, the monster's spawn rate was about half of the surrounding mobs so he had to constantly kill other monsters as he waited for the one he needed to kill to come back. He scratched his head in annoyance. The quest was taking more time than he expected, and there was also the real possibility of Kirito passing him in levels. He sighed as he started to trudge through the forest again, searching for another enemy to take down.

"Somebody! Help!"

Neku glanced up to see a spear user running away from an enraged mob. Neku rolled his eyes. He could care less about someone in trouble, however, the monster chasing the player happened to be the monster he was hunting. He ran forwards and charged up a sword skill. As the monster got in range he released it and slashed the unsuspecting beast in the back. The monster tumbled before shaking itself out of its stupor and refocusing on its new target. However, the monster was too slow as Neku was already charging at it with his sword glowing blue. With two quick slashes, the monster cried out and exploded into blue shards.

Neku smirked and sheathed his sword behind him. He could finally complete the quest and go to the dungeon. He swiped downward with his right hand and scrolled to the friend section. Selecting Kirito's name he started typing out a message before he was interrupted.

"Umm… Thank you for saving me."

Neku frowned, he had forgotten about the other player, or rather than forgetting, never considered them in the first place. He supposed he could just ignore them, it had worked before and Neku would not hesitate to try again. He continued to type detailing that he had finished the quest and would join Kirito in the dungeon as soon as he was able. He clicked the send button and started to walk away.

"Umm… Please hold on!"

Neku scowled, clearly this person was not getting his not so subtle hints that he did not want to talk.

"Can you hear me through your headphones?"

Neku wanted to introduce his face to his palm at this moment. What kind of player actually thought that there was an item to dampen sound, in a VMMORPG?

He turned around to observe the other player. From the voice he could already tell it was a girl. This girl had short black hair and was clutching her spear tightly to her body. Clearly she was an inexperienced player, so why was she way out here?

Neku sighed, "Did you need something?"

The girl seemed a bit flustered by his tone, gave a shy smile, "Umm yes… thank you for saving me back there... I would have-"

Neku scoffed, cutting her off mid-sentence, "I didn't do it to save you, I did it to kill the monster and complete the quest I was working on."

The girl shrunk back from his harsh words, "O…Oh… umm, sorry."

Neku rolled his eyes, "Next time pay attention to what you are doing, you won't be so lucky next time." Neku turned and started to walk away but was stopped once again.

"Umm! Please wait!"

Neku groaned and whirled back around to give the girl a withering glare, "What do you want?"

The girl flinched and took a step back before stuttering out, "If….If it is not too much trouble, could you escort me back to town?"

Neku barked out a laugh, "Why would I want to do that? Don't you have any friends?"

The girl nodded, "Yeah… I have a friend."

Neku rolled his eyes, "Then ask them to come out here instead and save your hide."

The girl shook her head rapidly, "But she is too weak to come out here. Besides you're right here so-"

Neku cut her off, "I already told you that I am not interested, and I am certainly not going to be getting anything worthwhile from doing so right? So, if you would excuse me, I will take my leave."

The girl clenched her spear tightly, "How could you honestly say that?! I could die out here!"

Neku shrugged, "I don't see how that is my problem, you were the one who decided to come out here when you were under leveled. Maybe in your next life you won't make the same mistake."

With that and a wave goodbye, Neku took off on a leisurely stroll through the forest. He expected to arrive in town after around ten minutes. Also as expected, the girl was trying to follow him stealthily. Trying, but failing.

Neku sighed before turning around and saying, "Oi, Stalker, if you are really insistent on getting back safely, you could always offer me some col."

The girl frowned "I don't have anything like that… all I have are just items for a quest and my armor and weapons, I used all my money on housing and food.

Neku rubbed his eyes in frustration, "I am truly surprised you lived this long. Tell me stalker, what quest were you doing in hopes of earning col?"

The girl puffed her cheeks out in annoyance, "The name is Shiki! And I was the doing the 'collect the herbs' quest."

Neku rolled his eyes, "One: I did not ask for your name, Stalker, and Two: hate to break it to you, but that quest gives you potions and experience, no col whatsoever."

Shiki froze, "EH!? But can't I sell the potions or something?"

Neku snorted, "Sure you can, for around 25% the price."

Shiki slowly sunk to the ground clearly drained of energy, "What was I doing all of this for then?"

Neku scoffed, "don't ask me missy, I don't have all the answers."

With that, Neku turned back and took a step to walk away.

"hic…"

Neku glanced back and saw the girl fall into tears. Her spear lay on the grass beside her as she held her body as it racked with sobs. It seemed the stress and anxiety of the situation had finally broken the camel's back. The girl just could not take it anymore and let out all her frustrations and her grief through her tears.

Neku sighed. When his best friend had died a few years back, he swore to make sure nobody would hold him back ever again. He was more than willing to leave people as they floundered around, confused. He was willing to leave someone who had betrayed them and let them die due to their own foolishness. If this girl died, it would be one less person to annoy him with useless chatter, one less person to try and get him to open up, one less person to take up space and get in his way.

But at the end of the day, Neku was human. If he allowed this small fragile girl to die while knowing he could prevent it, it would haunt him for the rest of his life.

So, with a sigh he turned back, knelt down and grabbed her spear, "hey stalker."

The girl flinched causing Neku to roll his eyes before continuing, "I am going to help you get back to town, you won't own me anything, on the condition that you do EXACTLY what I tell you, agreed?"

The girl looked up at him with teary eyes, filled with hope, "*sniffle* really?"

Neku narrowed his eyes in annoyance, "Or if you want I can and will leave you here."

The girl shook her head rapidly, "No, No! I understand."

Neku nodded, "Fine, then stand up, we are moving."

Neku held out the spear to the girl who gratefully took it before standing up and timidly following after him. Neku reopened his menu and shot the girl, Shiki, a party request before sending Kirito a quick message saying that there had been a change of plans that would hold him up for some time.

"Umm," the girl nervously started, "What's your name?"

Neku glanced back at her for a second before turning his attention back to their surroundings, scanning for possible hostiles, "You should be able to see my name from the health bars in your peripheries, though to make it easy on you, my name is Neku."

The girl continued, "Oh… nice to meet you Neku, umm… thank you again for helping me."

Neku scoffed, "Don't make me regret it… besides I am not going to just lead you to the town."

The footsteps behind him abruptly stopped prompting Neku to turn around. Shiki had her arms crossed defensively across her chest with a blush adorning her face.

The headphone wearing boy let out an aggravated sigh, "get your mind out of the gutter, I am going to teach you how to fight."

The girl slowly lowered her arms, "fight?"

Neku nodded, "you were having money problems right? Fighting monsters in the field is the easiest thing anyone can do to make some money. It won't get you rich, but it will certainly make you enough for all your day to day needs."

"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime."

Shiki seemed to brighten at this, before shrinking back, "I would have done that already if I could have… but I'm too scared, with monsters charging at me, and the fear of death… I…I just can't."

Neku sighed, "So your solution is to stay within the towns slowly rotting away hoping that something will be done? To me, that is a fate worse than death."

Shiki frowned, "Then how do you cope?"

Neku thought for a second before responding, "While I am always prepared, with health potions and I try to keep a large safety margin, I guess the main thing I do is feel confident is all my actions. If I have doubts, I have already lost."

Shiki put a finger to her chin, "Well, that might work for you but-"

Neku cut her off, "Heads up, we have company."

A wolf appeared before them, and as soon as it spotted them, it charged. While Shiki screamed in fear, Neku took a more proactive solution. He charged a sword skill and as soon as the wolf was in range, he released it and struck the wolf, unbalancing it. The wolf stumbled back allowing Neku to recover from his post motion delay. The orange haired boy charged forward and scored two slashes on his foe before he jumped back to avoid being bitten.

"Stalker!"

The girl frowned, "The name is Shiki!"

"When I shout switch, charge forward as fast as you can and stab the monster with your spear."

"Wha… What! That is crazy, there is no way that I could."

"You agreed to do everything I said! Get ready!"

The boy continued his battle against the monster, whittling down its health little by little, until it was near death. The wolf howled and jumped up to try a jump bite.

Neku smirked, before catching the wolf's mouth with his blade. With his strength, he flung the wolf back while shouting, "Switch!"

Shiki charged forward and thrust forward with her spear. If Neku was honest, he had doubts that this girl could actually hit a broad side of a barn with her spear, let alone a wolf. He had assumed that she had only the spear as a statement and nothing more. Regardless of Neku's assumptions, Shiki hit the wolf spot on and the monster gave a howl before bursting into data. Windows opened up in front of them detailing all the exp and col they had earned.

Neku's eyes flashed over it before hitting the 'X' button to close it. Shiki however was looking at it astounded. She looked at the window in astonishment.

"I… I did it… yeah! I defeated a monster!"

Neku rolled his eyes, "Sure, if getting the last strike counts as 'defeating' but sure, whatever you say."

Shiki deflated at his words, "Sorry, it is just… I never really had the confidence to fight before."

Neku sighed, "Even if you killed one monster, that doesn't make you an expert, it certainly is a step in the right direction for surviving this game. Tell me, do you know how to use sword skills?"

Shiki gave a sheepish smile, "I have heard of them…"

Neku closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, "Figures… alright, I know some basics about spears… and the initial sword skills of them as well, speaking of which, why did you choose to use spears in the first place?"

Shiki kicked the ground absentmindedly, "I thought that with a longer weapon, I would have some space between me and the monsters… and I would be safer like that."

Neku sighed, "A spear only helps you stay safe in a group of people, as someone is the vanguard while you play support, don't expect to be safe on a one on one fight, though you said you had a friend right? What do they use?"

Shiki fidgeted with her spear, "she uses a one hand sword."

Neku nodded, "Well, that is good, if you can get her to fight, you two should be fine. First, though, is sword skills. The first move you should be able to do is twin thrust."

Neku sheathed his sword and took Shiki's spear before taking a stance, "This is the approximate positioning you should have to activate the skill. Now give it a try."

Neku handed back the spear and Shiki positioned herself like Neku.

Neku shook his head, "You're too rigid, widen your stance a bit, also don't have your arms at a ninety-degree angle."

Shiki did as she was told, "Umm nothing is happening…"

Neku scoffed, "That is because you are not concentrating. Concentrate on a target, like that tree."

Shiki nodded at Neku before focusing on the tree before her. After a few moments Shiki sighed, "I don't think this is working."

Neku rolled his eyes, "The effect is not instantaneous, and people don't always pick up on it right away. Now back to concentrating."

Shiki breathed in and focused on the tree again. Neku stayed silent, he would not always be around to help her so there was no point in prompting her now, it would be up to her willpower alone. Shiki squinted at the tree, focusing all her might on her 'enemy.' Soon enough the tip of her spear glowed a brilliant green.

Neku smirked, "Now, strike!"

Shiki's eyes widened and she screamed, the system took over and she struck the tree twice causing it to fracture and then fall entirely, before bursting into blue shards, leaving behind some wood crafting material. Shiki was left panting but a smile adorned her face.

Neku nodded, "Well done, but that is the simplest of all the spear skills."

Shiki turned to look at him, "Does…*pant*… Does it always take that much concentration to do a sword skill?"

Neku shrugged, "Yes? No? Maybe? All I know is that it gets easier as you do it over and over. Now come on, I need to meet someone in the dungeon and I am already running late."

Shiki started, "Ah, sorry to delay you."

Neku rolled his eyes, "Whatever, we can kill anything on the way back to get you some money."

Shiki smiled, "Thank you."

Neku just huffed and turned away to start walking. The two took a leisurely pace back to town, killing anything that got in the way, even netting Shiki a level. Finally, they passed into the gates of the town and a window popped up informing them that they hand entered a safe zone.

"Guess my escort ends here," said Neku as he dissolved the party, "If fighting is not your thing, you could always try a craft instead, like sewing."

It seems that his choice in words had sparked something in her, because her eyes lit up and she grasped his hands, "There is a sewing skill?!"

Neku forcefully ripped his hands away, "Never do that again."

Shiki blushed harshly, "I'm so sorry! I was just so excited that there was a sewing skill that I lost control over myself."

Neku could not fathom why the mere act of sewing would get someone so excited but shrugged, "As for your question, yes there is a sewing skill, but it is in conjunction with the tailoring skill. It is nothing like real life mind you, it is oversimplified, but there are some similarities."

Shiki's eyes sparked, "I could sew all I want without having to fight at all… it is like a dream come true…"

Neku clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Not even close, you need materials to tailor, like leather, thread, needles, and scissors. Those aren't provided infinitely. Either you will need to hunt it yourself or buy it from others, and if you want to buy it, you need money. Plus you still would need a place of operations to do all your work, whether it is an inn or your own house, plus you need to eat. All that money needs to come from somewhere, and you will not be getting that from other players… right now people are either too scared to do anything or too focused clearing this floor."

Shiki deflated, "So that means I still need to hunt?"

Neku nodded, "For now at least, but if you do get famous, and you can produce quality items, you can eventually say goodbye to fighting."

Shiki sighed wistfully, "Well… I will look forward to that day."

Neku shrugged, "Whatever floats your boat."

Shiki giggled, "Well then, thank you again Neku, for not only saving me, but for teaching me how to fight as well guiding me back to town."

Neku rolled his eyes, but before he could respond another female spotted the pair and started to sprint at them.

The girl collided with Shiki with a scream of joy, "You're OK!"

The two girls fell to the floor in a heap. The girl then grabbed Shiki by the shoulders and shook her, "Don't you ever worry me like that again! You could have been killed out there!"

Shiki, a bit disoriented from the blow could only beg, "Eri! I am fine so please stop shaking me!"

The red-haired girl huffed and stood up and offered a hand to the girl on the ground who gladly took it. Shiki brushed herself off and motioned to Neku, "Neku here saved me from a monster, even took time to show me how to fight. I owe him a lot."

Eri, who just seemed to realize that there was someone else in the vicinity gave Neku a once over before smiling coyly, "Oh… Shiki I didn't know you had it in you, but you certainly caught a looker."

Neku glared harshly at her while Shiki shook her hands vigorously stuttering denials. Eri broke into laughter, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding, that is what you get for worrying me so much."

She turned fully to Neku and gave a sincere smile, "Neku was it? Thank you for recusing my best friend, I really would not know what I would do if I lost her."

Neku's eyes widened fractionally before returning to his usual indifferent expression. He was not used to being thanked. He shrugged, "It wasn't much."

Eri nodded before the two started walking away, Shiki excitingly talking about the tailoring skill Neku had mentioned before.

"So what was that about Nekky?"

Neku turned to find Argo standing behind him with a mischievous smile on her lips.

Neku scowled, "I told you not to call me that."

Argo smiled playfully, "Aww, but Nekky is so much better than plain, old 'Neku,' my nickname is one of a kind, completely terrific, and rolls off the tongue."

Neku grit his teeth. In his humble opinion it had always been a pain to deal with Argo the Rat, top info broker of SAO. She would sell or buy anything to make a profit, except the identity of the former beta testers.

Neku sighed, "That was just a girl I helped get out of the forest. She was going to die so I brought her back. The other one was the girl's friend, and she was thanking me."

Argo rubbed her chin before cracking a cheeky grin, "Oh, I don't think so, I saw her clasp your hands excitedly. Could you two have had a 'boy meets girl' moment out there?"

Argo turned and struck a dramatic pose, "A girl stranded out in the wilderness, her life about to come to an abrupt end, then suddenly!" Argo swept her arm out and pointed at Neku who looked ready to rip her head off, "a prince appeared, saving her from the monster and cradling her in his strong arms." Argo spun yet again clutching herself tightly, "After he escorts her back to the safe zone, she expects a new chapter in her life, but alas! He must leave her for another adventure, she clasps his hands, begging him not to leave her, but he cannot listen to her pleas, before he leaves, he whispers sweet nothings in her- hey, wait up!"

At this point Neku had started walking away from Argo, tired of the garbage spewing from her lips. Argo ran after the headphone wearing boy and after catching up shot him a dirty look as Neku looked at her with indifference.

After a minute or two of Argo panting, Neku spoke, "So? What do you need?

Argo huffed and crossed her arms, "I had an important message to tell you, but since you were so rude, I am going to make you apologize for it."

Neku shrugged, "clearly the message was not that important if you had time to spew romantic garbage at me. So if you will excuse me…"

Argo deflated, "You know, you could learn to lighten up."

Neku scoffed, "get used to disappointment. Now the message if you will."

Argo straightened up and nodded, "the final floor of the first floor dungeon had been reach. There is a boss raid meeting today in this town's amphitheater at four in the afternoon."

Neku's eyebrows raised, "Raid meeting eh? Kirito didn't contact me so it couldn't have been him, who finally got to it?"

Argo got a sparkle in her eye, "I can tell you for 50 col."

Neku rolled his eyes, "I guess I will find out later today."

Argo sniggered, "I wonder if you will ever buy any information from me."

Neku snorted, "Eventually I will, but right now I am content with what I have."

Argo smiled, "I await that day with bated breath, until then." With a wave, Argo dashed off. Neku sighed, he still needed to go and meet up with Kirito, if only to level up once before the meeting.

An alert prompted him to open his menu and select the messaging section. Kirito had informed him that he had exited the dungeon earlier than expected because he dragged a girl out from the depths. Neku raised an eyebrow at such a strange coincidence, but otherwise paid it no mind. He then headed off towards some stalls to get something to eat, and then wait till four.

-§-

A total of fourty-seven people were at the meeting. Neku silently sat as people chatted around him. Kirito had come a few minutes earlier and had brought along the girl he had found in the dungeons. Neku nodded at her, acknowledging her existence and nothing more, who nodded back with the same amount of apathy. The meeting started up with a man named Diavel taking the stage. He explained that his team had gotten to the final floor, so it was certain that they would find the boss room tomorrow, if not later today. He went on to say that it was up to all of them, the players right here to be the ones to show the rest of the players that the death game of SAO could be defeated.

"At least he has a lot of charisma, that is for sure," thought Neku as the people around him cheered.

"Hold on a second! Before we all play buddy-buddy, I need to say something!" Attention turned to a spiky haired man who was crossing his arms angrily.

Diavel smiled, "Do you want to share your opinion? I am all ears, but to do so how about you come down here and introduce yourself."

The man huffed before jumping down to the center and turning around, "The name is Kibou, and I know at least 5 to 10 of you must be in here right now! They all left us in the beginning and horded all of the good hunting spots and high paying quests! Because of them, there are two thousand people dead!"

Diavel spoke up, "By them… do you mean the beta testers?"

Kibou scowled, as if the mere mention of the name made him sick to his stomach, "Course I do! Those rotten bastards screwed us over as soon as this forsaken monstrosity became a game of death! I want all you beta testers to come down here and grovel at all our feet apologizing to all the dead players! Give us your stockpile of items and col too! Only then will I trust any of you!"

Neku frowned and stayed silent. While it was true that he had not gone out of his way to help anyone in the beginning, it was their fault for being so unprepared. This was a death game, you had to be cautious, alert. Fail to do those simple things and you were toast. That was not something that had to be taught, it was basic survival, plain and simple. As for the people that suffered mental breakdowns, there was not much he could have done anyway. If they had been so deprived of hope that they were willing to throw themselves off the side of the world, then teaching them how to swing a sword to survive would not have helped them. Some people would claim that Neku was rationalizing, but to Neku, it was just fact, and while that may have been harsh, it was not something that Neku would go out of his way to change.

"Hold on just a second yo!"

The mass of people turned to look at someone who had stood up. He had blond hair underneath a black bandana and looked like a thug, "Yose just blamin' them beta testers for the death of all those people? They are the ones that have helped people the most!"

Kibou scowled at the new speaker, "Who the hell are you? You a beta tester?"

The boy smirked, "Naw, but I am as good as one yo! I can use all my sword steels perfectly!"

Kibou frowned in confusion… "Sword… Steels?"

The person next to the blond haired boy stood up, it looked like a small boy with blond hair as well, but by the voice it was definitely a girl, "Sword SKILLS Beat, Skills."

The boy, now identified as Beat smiled and gave a thumbs up to the girl next to him, "Ah yeah, thanks Rhyme."

Kibou recovered from his earlier confusion, "So… So what? Just because you know sword skills doesn't mean that they didn't abandon us!"

Beat laughed, "Take a look at this yo!" He opened his menu and materialized an item. It was the all too familiar Argo the Rat guidebook. Beat continued, "This book is what taught me all I needed to know when I didn't know my right from my west!"

Rhyme smiled, "Right from left Beat, right from left."

Beat smiled, "Yeah! You tell'em Rhyme!"

A large man on one of the lower benches started to laugh before standing, "You know kid, you're alright, mind if I take it from here?"

Beat looked shocked, "Bwaaah! Yose out to steal my lightning?!"

"Thunder, Beat."

The man shook his head, "just dumbing it down so these people can understand."

Beat smirked, "Then their all yours, I can't make it any more stupid."

The man, named Agil, took the stage and clued everyone in on what Beat was trying to say, how the guidebooks must have been made by the beta testers. They had given the information willingly to all who would listen, but people had still died because they had chosen not to heed caution. With that the meeting go back in order.

Diavel nodded, "Alright! Now everyone, please form up into parties! We will be challenging the boss in a raid."

Neku sighed before turning to Kirito, "Well if assuming our current party is us two and her, we will be getting two random people on our team."

Kirito shrugged, "I don't think it will be that bad."

Neku shrugged, "I guess you're right, as long as it isn't that one blond guy we should be alright."

Kirito shook his head, "We need all the people we can get, if they come asking, we should accept them."

Neku scoffed, "Yeah, and what are the chances of that hap-"

"Umm excuse me."

The three turned around to find the loudmouth blond boy and the small blond girl standing behind them. The girl smiled, "You guys wouldn't happen to have space in your party, would you?"

Neku glared at Kirito, silently telling him to send them away. Kirito smiled, "Yeah we have some space, so you guys can join us."

The loudmouth smiled and shouted, "HELL YEAH, THIS IS GOING TO BE TIGHT!"

Neku slowly put his face in his hands thinking, "Kill me now..."